Exploring interpersonal recognition as a facilitator of students’ academic and professional identity formation in higher education

A large body of work shows that the development of students’ academic and professional identity positively predicts achievement in higher education. Despite this, there is also evidence that students have great difficulty developing both types of identity. Drawing from Honneth’s [2003a. Behovet for anerkendelse. En tekstsamling [The Need for Personal Recognition. A Text Collection. Redigeret af Rasmus Willig. København: Hans Reitzels Forlag; Honneth, A. 1992 [2006]. Kamp om anerkendelse [The Struggle for Recognition]. København: Hans Reitzels Forlag] work on the importance of recognition, we examined the perceived barriers to forming an academic and professional identity in a qualitative study among 26 Danish and 11 Australian university students. The results reveal that while both types of identity formations were contingent on different forms of recognition, there was also evidence that students perceived all three forms of interpersonal recognition (respect, solidarity, empathy) beneficial in forming academic and professional identity. More specifically, students needed interpersonal recognition as a response to validate an academic identity, and also as a creating source for developing a professional identity. Lacking social interaction possibilities with educators hindered recognition and students’ identity formations